Selling Your Car Privately - Ten Tips

You may well get more for your car by selling privately, however this requires a great deal of time and effort. As well as the inevitable haggling with strangers, dealing with tyre-kickers, paying for adverts and waiting by the phone.

Selling privately has the most personal risks, so here are our top-ten tips to help make sure that if you are selling privately - that you're going about it the right way.

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1

Be realistic

You can use our valuation tool to input the details of your car and get a free realistic valuation. Remember to consider your cars age, mileage and condition to ensure you get an accurate price.

2

The buyer will haggle

Take this into account when setting your price.

3

The test drive

Always check that the potential buyer is insured for the test drive and never let them go alone!

4

The keys!

Don’t leave the potential buyer alone with the keys in the ignition- we don’t need to explain why!

5

Safety first

Never meet a potential buyer alone- ask someone to come with you.

6

Proof of identity

Always ask the buyer for proof of identity- just to be on the safe side.

7

Stick to your guns

Buyers will haggle, so have your lowest price in mind and stick to it.

8

Paying with cash

Cash should be handed to you in a bank, so that the notes can be checked for forgeries and so that you can receive the payment immediately.

9

Cheques

The cheque could be forged or stolen, so NEVER let a buyer take the car until the funds have reached your bank.

10

Online bank transfers

This is possibly the safest option, however again ensure that the funds are in your bank before the buyer takes the car.